Cali VX Oxygen Sensor confusion
 

I just bought a '92 VX today. I bought it from the original owners, who bought the car from a San Diego dealership in California. Now I checked under the hood and the car has a 5 wire oxygen sensor, with 7 wires to the connector. There is a California sticker on the hood. My understanding was that the California cars had a 4 wire sensor. What am I missing?

Keep in mind this car is completely untouched and dead stock. The car runs absolutely perfect. It does not have a shift light if that helps.

Possible that the original owners bought a non CA version that passed CA emissions.

Is there a way to tell if I have the lean burn? Like an ECU part number?

37280-P07-"XXX" where XXX = A00 or A01 will be a lean burn ECU

IIRC if XXX = L00 or L01 it will be a cali emissions ECU/non lean burn.

It's an L00. Thanks for the info. Strange that the oxygen sensor has 5 wires. I guess if I want the lean burn all I need to do is change the ECU and I'm in business.

That is most strange. You don't have the CEL on do you?

No on the CEL, just passed smog today. California just added another part to the smog test also. They now pressurize the gas tank with nitrogen to check the evaporative controls.

Well, if it's passing CA smog without any troubles and not throwing a CEL... I would just roll with it. As long as it's getting the mileage you want it to with your chosen driving technique, then all is good :D

Huh... '92. That was the first production year for 5th gen Civics. Didn't someone else on the forum recently have this experience? CA emissions sticker, but needed a 5-wire O2? I wonder if Honda switched over to the 4-wire setup at a later date in response to a change in CA emissions requirements. Like maybe only '94-95 CA VXs use a 4-wire setup? Or maybe it's just the '92 year that uses a 5-wire sensor. Just throwing some ideas around.

I think you are on to something. I had looked at another CA VX and it had a five wire oxygen sensor, and it was a '92. There was also no shift light in this car. I believe you can run the 5 wire sensor with the 7 wires to the sensor plug with a non lean burn computer. But you can't run a lean burn ECU with the 4 wire setup. I am going to buy a Fed ECU and give it a shot. I want that lean burn and extra 5 mpg. I don't think there are any other differences between the two models.

One other thing was the owner of this car said that you couldn't buy the VX in California after 1992. I doubt this because of the presence of 4 wire VXs.

On the hunt for a Fed ECU.